A shower enclosure consists for example of a door and return panel or panels which are fitted in the corner of a bathroom or other area to form together with the existing corner walls of the room (which are lined with an appropriate waterproof lining) a shower cubicle (though not necessarily of square floor shape). Commonly before installing the door and return panel(s), a pre-fabricated or pre-formed shower base is installed which provides a floor to the shower enclosure on which a person stands when using the shower. The shower base includes a waste aperture in which is provided a waste fitting connected to plumbing which carries away waste water during use of the shower.
The shower base is formed so that the upper surface of the shower base which provides the floor of the shower falls towards the waste outlet. Commonly the pre-formed shower base is thermoformed to shape from sheet thermoplastic material. The exposed upper surface of the thermoformed material of the shower base may constitute the finished surface of the floor of the shower. Alternatively, a pre-formed shower base may be fabricated from fibreglass or stainless steel for example.
Alternatively again the floor of a shower may be tiled, with ceramic or clay tiles. The tiles must be solidly supported or they may crack or become dislodged. The tiles may be fixed directly on the floor of the room or area in which a shower enclosure is being installed, on for example a concrete floor surface which has been pre-formed with a fall to a waste outlet. It is also known to install on the floor a pre-formed shower base intended to be tiled, which provides a stable surface with a fall or falls to a waste outlet for solidly supporting the tiles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,773 discloses a pre-formed planar shower base having a waste positioned at the entry side of the shower base with associated drain channels.
UK patent application publication 2093342 discloses a pre-formed shower base having a central square floor and a peripheral drain channel which takes water to a corner waste.
European patent 0492147 discloses a pre-formed shower base having a non-central waste and a peripheral drain channel.